UCLA changes offensive coordinators ahead of a visit from Penn State on Saturday; here's who will call the plays now

UCLA will have a new play caller on offense Saturday when it hosts Penn State at the Rose Bowl. Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times first reported on Tuesday night that the Bruins and offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri have “mutually agreed to part ways.” The program, which is now under the direction of interim head coach Tim Skipper, will make assistant head coach and tight ends coach Jerry Neuheisel the new offensive coordinator. According to his school bio, this will mark his first time calling plays on game day.

The move marks the second Skipper has made at a coordinator position since taking over for Deshaun Foster, who was fired two weeks ago. UCLA also parted ways with former defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe earlier this month. He was replaced by former Syracuse analyst Kevin Coyle, who took over as the defensive play caller before last week’s 17-14 Bruins loss at Northwestern.

More: A bad word describes the Penn State offense, Jim Knowles’ debut, and more September Nittany Lion takeaways

“Unusual story on defense,” Lions coach James Franklin said on Monday. “Their defensive coordinator, Kevin Coyle was at Syracuse two weeks ago and came in and took over the defense. So for us, watching the beginning of the season compared to now, there is value in that, but also what they did this past week, probably the biggest change we saw is a lot more man coverage. If you listen to reports and read reports, came in manage and changed the defense. How much that is accurate I’m not sure. Maybe they just focused on a different style. I think they did limit the playbook to get the guys playing faster and more aggressive. I think that happened.

“And I think by playing man coverage they can simplify things by saying, I got that guy, I got that guy. But unusual situation. I think a little bit of that is Coach Coyle and the head coach have experience. I think they were at Fresno together. That’s where that comes from. Talking about defense I would say they’re a multiple scheme. Again, hard to speak on that in great detail. We did see a spike in man coverage this past week.”

UCLA has struggled in all facets of play amid its 0-4 start. The Bruins are statistically among the worst in the country on offense and defense. The change to Coyle obviously helped some last week, albeit against a pedestrian Northwestern offense. What changes Neuheisel can make to the offense in just a few days before Penn State visits remains to be seen. But, it’s another factor the Lions will have to account for as they look to return to the win column.